


Cleopatra

by alonenotlonely



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-23 14:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16161035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alonenotlonely/pseuds/alonenotlonely
Summary: Brianna's mom did not like Aquaria or her roommates Jordan and Kameron. At all. In fact when Aquaria pulled into the driveway belonging to the empty house next to her mother's on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle of all things and proceeded to replace the American flag on the porch with a Pride flag, Brianna had been ordered to go over and “explain that this was a family friendly neighborhood.” What her mom didn’t expect was for Brianna to fall in love. If she was being entirely honest, neither did Brianna.





	Cleopatra

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I want to say that I'm super sorry about how sad some of this is. 
> 
> Secondly, I want to say that while some of what I describe here may seem unrealistic to some, it is unfortunately very much based on real events; real events which - 9 months later - I am still trying to process. I hope that writing this fic will help me, who knows? But because of how close this is to me, I have chosen to moderate any comments left. 
> 
> Third, the title and inspiration for this come from the wonderful song "Cleopatra" by The Lumineers! As soon as I heard it, I knew what I wanted to write something. Also, a huge thank you to kiheons on Tumblr for the inspiration for Aquaria in this, I hope to (entirely depending on the reception for this story!) expand on the Biker/Tattoo Artist!Aquaria-verse very, very soon!!
> 
> Lastly, thank you to sadistic-sabatina for all of her help!

Brianna gazed through the slightly distorted glass panel in the hospital door, just barely able to see the small figure she knew to be her mother. Steeling herself with a deep breath, she gently pushed on the door and allowed herself to slip into the too sterile room which was silent except for the infrequent whimpering snores from the older woman’s fragile frame and the quiet, rhythmic beeping of all the various medical equipment.

 

One look at her mother – her once shoulder length blonde hair replaced with a grey and slightly messy pixie cut, accommodating the clunky grey plastic neck brace which surrounded her neck; her once glowing skin had lost its vibrance and now clung to what looked like each delicate bone – caused tears to well in her eyes, threatening to spill over, and thoughts of how life had been so drastically different not seven months ago.

 

It had all started one July afternoon, at a family party. Brianna had watched on in amusement as her mom gamely tried to learn how to headbang from her younger cousin Isaac who was 16 and very into his metal/goth phase, only slightly concerned when the older woman let out an audible hiss when she moved her neck but put it down to old age. The concern grew about two weeks later when her mom called her in agony, saying that she couldn’t get out of bed because her neck and shoulder were in so much pain.

 

A trip to the doctor told them it was a trapped nerve – common enough – and her mom happily went on her merry way, a prescription for painkillers in hand. Except the painkillers didn’t work. The physio the doctor recommended didn’t work. After three months and multiple visits to the doctor, the pain wasn’t gone. In fact, it was getting worse so one morning, a bleary eyed and skeptical Brianna drove her mom to emergency room, expecting another prescription.

 

She didn’t get what she expected. Far from it. Instead, her mom was sent for x-rays, blood tests and MRIs.

 

Cancer.

 

In her neck, in her shoulder, in her spine, in her hip, in her brain and in her lungs. The cancer had weakened the vertebrae in her neck to the point where even a slight jerk could’ve – at best – broken her neck and – at worst – killed her. Her mom had been walking around with a broken neck for three months, on painkillers and a prayer. She was restricted to a hospital bed, not allowed to move her head because any little movement could snap her neck. The fracture also meant that she wouldn’t be able to undergo any of the usual cancer treatments so within the space of a week, the 27 year old was faced with the reality that her mom wouldn’t be with her much longer.

 

The hospital let her out just in time for Hanukkah, which she spent propped up in her favorite chair, surrounded by pillows and everyone who loved her while her favorite TV shows played in the background, mostly ignored. Old friends from school, people she met while she worked at the grocery store, former neighbors who remember how she'd watch their kids for them or give them presents at Christmas despite not celebrating herself. Even Aquaria visited her one night after closing up the tattoo shop that she worked at.

 

Oh, God.

 

Aquaria.

 

Brianna's mom did not like Aquaria or her roommates Jordan and Kameron. At all. In fact when Aquaria pulled into the driveway belonging to the empty house next to her mother's on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle of all things and proceeded to replace the American flag on the porch with a Pride flag, Brianna had been ordered to go over and “explain that this was a family friendly neighborhood.” What her mom didn’t expect was for Brianna to fall in love. If she was being entirely honest, neither did Brianna.

 

There was just an energy to the black-haired 22 year old that drew Brianna in. After a few contentious meetings, something seemed to click and not too long later, the two found themselves spending most of their free time together. Sometimes Bri would sit and chat to Aquaria as she tattooed a client, joking how one day she’d convince her mom to get a tattoo from Aquaria. Other times, they’d just sit on Aquaria’s back porch - Brianna smoking a cigarette while Aquaria smoked a joint after a hard day at work, the two of them putting the world to rights - before they’d fumble around in the dark of Aquaria’s bedroom, giggling despite themselves and trying not to wake Kameron or Jordan when the giggles turned to whimpers and moans. Despite how much she may have loved Aquaria, the blonde knew that there was only one place that she had to be right now and that wasn’t on the back of Aquaria’s motorcycle, riding from tattoo shop to tattoo shop and city to city without a care in the world.

 

She was so wrapped up in all that had happened that Bri didn’t realize that there was a nurse in the room as well until the woman was stood directly in front of her.

“Oh fuck, I mean, sorry Monet - work was just, ugh, the worst today - what did you say?” Brianna got out, hastily wiping the tears from her eyes, hoping that the kind looking nurse hadn’t noticed. She just smiled understandingly at her but, thankfully, didn’t mention her crying.

“Don’t worry about it,” The nurse said simply.

“How is she doing?”

“Why don't you take a seat for a minute while I go get Dr Michaels? Is there anything I can get for you - a drink or something?”

“Erm, sure. A black coffee would be amazing, thanks.” Monet nodded with that same kind smile then left the room, softly closing the door behind her as Brianna sat down in the comfortable, blue fabric chair by her mother’s bedside. It was a few minutes before Monet returned, this time accompanied by a friendly looking woman who, if you were to squint, would look like Cher.

“Hi Brianna, sorry to call you in like this,” Dr Michaels apologized. Bri assured her it was alright before asking what was going on. “It seems that your mom has pneumonia, I’m afraid. It could’ve been a simple viral infection but due to her weakened immune system, it has developed into pneumonia. We’re going to be keeping her under very close observations although I have to make you aware that these are going to be some very trying few days, Brianna. I can’t promise you that she will make it through this, but I can promise that if there’s anything that you or your mother want from us, we - myself, Monet and the rest of our team - will do our very best.”

 

Bri felt like someone had hit her in the gut. It’s one thing knowing that she was going to lose her mom; it was another entirely knowing that it would probably happen within the week.

“Thank you, both of you. If you don’t mind, I think I want to spend some time alone with her?”

“Of course. Again, if you need anything just let us know.” Quietly the two women left the room, leaving Brianna in the relative silence once more. She had just drawn her knees up so her feet were tucked up onto the chair and was about to try for some rest when a quiet, weak cough rattled through her mother, causing her to sit bolt upright.

“Mom?” She asked, her voice shaking a little.

“Ah, my beautiful Breezy Bri! You came!”

“Don’t be stupid, of course I came.” The two of them laughed a little before falling into a semi-awkward silence.

 

“So they told you, huh? Pneumonia. Pfft, I walk around with a broken neck for months and it looks like it’ll be pneumonia that’ll finish me off,” her mom tried to joke but Brianna wasn’t laughing.

“Mom, c’mon. Be honest with me here. If you’re scared or anything, just tell me.”

“Bri, of course I’m scared but being scared won’t stop the inevitable will it? Now, come here.” The blonde shuffled forward in her seat, grabbing onto her mother’s shaking outstretched hand and clasping it between her own, rubbing her thumbs over the back. “You really want me to be honest?”

“I mean, no time like the present right?” Both of them huffed out a laugh.

“That’s my Bri…” A few minutes past in a more comfortable quiet before the woman in the bed spoke again. “You know, if I was honest with myself when I was your age Brianna, you probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Huh?”

“Oh yeah, your mom had a good time in her younger days and I didn’t meet your father til I was approaching 30. No, no. There was only really one boy - man, I suppose. And when I was 27, I threw it away.” Brianna just sat quietly and listened, smiling at the nostalgic gleam to her mom's eye.

 

“We met in Fayetteville, North Carolina in the summer of 1989. I was moving into my first apartment when this oaf hit me with a football. I was cussing him out when I looked up and saw this damn stupid smile on his face. It wasn’t on there for long after I threw the ball at his crotch. I saw him again at a party three weeks later and we ended up talking. God, he was so charming and funny Bri - he’d tell the funniest, most stupid jokes and I’d laugh despite how terrible they were. Then I laughed when I asked what he did for a living and he told me that he was in the Army. Except, then he wasn’t joking. He was in the 20th Engineer Brigade, stationed at Fort Bragg about 20 minutes outside of Fayetteville. He’d come into town from time to time with his buddies when they were given time off from training. I remember the next time I saw him after that party, he apparently got into so much trouble when he got back.

“Then he asked me on a date. I said no, of course. And he was so gracious about it, when he asked me again three months later and we knew each other better, I said yes. It was a disaster. Oh, God. It was so bad!” The woman let out a hoarse laugh which turned into a coughing fit, prompting Bri to let go over her hand and reach for the assistance button. “N-no, no, it’s fine. I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Brianna asked, very skeptical.

“Positive. Now do you want to hear the rest of this story?” She waited until her daughter had settled back down in her chair before continuing. “One date turned into two turned into three turned into what was probably the best year of my life - by the end of August 1990, I was sure that I was going to marry him. On the 2nd of September, he told me that he was going to be going to Kuwait.”

“Oh, crap, Mom, he didn’t..?” Brianna trailed off, hoping that this wasn’t going where it seemed to be.

“Oh, no no no! He was close, but he came home. The surprising thing was that a month after he came home, he took me out to dinner at the same place we had our first date and asked me to marry him.” The room fell into quiet, only disturbed by the beeping of the machines.

 

“I said no, Brianna,” she said simply, her voice cracking.

“Why? You loved him.”

“I did and that’s why I couldn’t marry him. He’d been back for a month and he was so different. The charming, funny, passionate man I knew was gone and in his place was a man I barely recognised. I loved _my_ man and I kne- no, I _thought_ that I couldn’t feel the same way for the man that returned instead. I didn’t think I could love him the same. And he deserved someone who could, who could love him the way I thought that I couldn’t.” The sob that followed was quiet but audible all the same, making Brianna lean forward and clasp her mom’s trembling hand once more. She placed gentle kisses across the slight fingers, whispering soft reassurances between each one.

 

“I decided to move, out of North Carolina - the state that had been my home, where I grew up and all I’d ever known - and to Seattle where I met your father. Six months later, we were engaged and pregnant with you. He was so, so happy Bri. I was too, to bring a life into this world? It’s all I had wanted since I was a young girl, playing with dolls and playing happy families.”

“But just not with him,” Brianna whispered, knowingly.

“No, not with him.” A moment and then, “you know, there’s two things in this life that I am so grateful for. Your father and I’s divorce, and you. I tried to be happy and for a while I think I had myself believing that I was but every so often I would have my doubts. If you really love someone Brianna, there should be no doubt.”

 

A long silence descended between them, letting the gravity of the dying woman’s words sink in. Ten minutes later, a quiet knock on the door snapped Brianna’s head up as Monet’s smiling face appeared.

“Hey, Ms H! How you feelin’?” The nurse asked in her bright tone, making everyone smile a little bit.

“Eh, same old same old Monet.”

“Well I’m just in to change your catheter so I’ll just get that done and be out of your hair.” Brianna stood up, stretching her back out as she did. A quick check of her cell phone showed that she had four missed calls from Aquaria and two from both Kameron and Jordan.

“My boss has been trying to phone me apparently, I’m just going to call him back,” she explained, thanking Monet who told her that the relative room should be empty right now.

 

Brianna closed the relative room door behind her, sighing as she approached the tall window and pressed the ‘call voicemail’ button. Before long, her heart began beating a touch faster as Aquaria’s voice came through her speaker although she sounded rather panicked. It had been a week since the younger woman had left in order to work in her close friend Ryan's tattoo shop and Bri had missed her more than she’d care to admit. The night before she left, the two had had a pretty fierce argument since Brianna had decided to not go with her like they’d originally planned, choosing instead to remain in Seattle.

“Hey Bri, please call me back as soon as you can. Kameron said she saw you leave work earlier in a hurry - I hope everything’s okay? I know I said somethings that I didn’t mean before I left and I am so so sorry. Please know that I’m always here if you need me, Kameron and Jordan too.” Aquaria seemed to be addressing someone in the background before returning her attention to Brianna again. “Ah fuck, I’ve got to go, my client’s just arrived. Bri, I know I’ve not said this before but I really fucking love you okay? Jeez, I can’t believe I told you that through the phone, but I do - I'm in love with you Brianna. Please, please call me back.” 

 

With a shaky breath, Brianna hung up and sank back against the comfort of one of the hospital chairs. Aquaria loved her. Somehow - inexplicably - 22 year old, one of the most talked about young tattoo artists in the nation, funny, dorky, absolutely gorgeous, kind and compassionate Aquaria loved  _her_. And despite how much she tried to deny it or tried to suppress it, Brianna knew that she was in love with Aquaria too.

 

Knowing that her mom would probably be heading off to sleep soon, Brianna headed back to her room, knocking quietly on the door before stepping over the threshold to see Monet just adjusting a few things on the bed. 

"Thank you Monet, for everything," Bri's mom said, smiling in spite of the large neck brace. Monet played it off, her own smile still in place as she left the two of them in peace. A few minutes later, once Bri was back in her seat with her mom's hands between her own, the quiet was disturbed. "You really love her don't you?"

 

There it was. Brianna had never told her mother that she was attracted to women, too afraid of what her reaction might be, even though she'd been out in college and had lost her virginity to her first girlfriend. But given the circumstances, she figured that there was no use in continuing the charade.

"I really do, Mom," she stated, voice cracking slightly as she kept her eyes focussed on the soft blue blanket that her mom had draped over her lap. She didn't even feel the older woman withdrawing her hands from between her own.

"Then here." Brianna brought her head up and was confused to see her mom's palm outstretched towards her, an unfamiliar white gold ring in the center. "I want you to have this. It-it was the ring that _He_ proposed to me with all those years ago."

"What? No, Mom, I can't have this. We're not even toget-"

"Ah but you will be, Bri, I know it. Please - take it." Still unsure, Bri allowed her mom to place the ring into her own hand and close her fingers around it.

"You know, I didn't mean to fall in love with her."

"That's how it should be, my Breezy Bri." 

 

Brianna opened her hand and lightly traced her right index finger around the ring, noticing an inscription on the inside which read: "AA & SK - 05/03/1991".

"Hey Mom, what was his name?"

"Allen Anderson," her mom breathed, a wide smile on her face. A beat. "Brianna - go. Go be with her."

"Mom, c'mon, no. I'm here - with you. Where I should be."

"Trust me, Bri, this life? It's for the living and those who dare to take a chance on love. You, my sweet beautiful girl, have so much more left to live and love than I do. I don't want you to look back when you're in this position and think 'I wish I had taken a chance to love and live'. Don't make the same mistakes as I did with Allen," she implored. 

 

Tears streamed down both of their faces as Bri took one more look at her mother's face, seeing a steely determination and a fierce love in those familiar blue eyes.

"I love you so much, Mom."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

 

As she waited for the elevator, Brianna pulled out her phone and called someone.

"Hey Kameron, can you do me a favor?" 

 

* * *

_Three days later_

Aquaria grabbed her black leather jacket from her sketching desk chair, glad to be finally heading home for the night even though everyone else had long gone. Patting down the pockets, she grinned at the bulky feeling of her smoking tin and keys. As she headed out onto the fairly well lit street, cursing at the light rain fall, she didn't notice the small shadowy figure just a few yards away from the shop until she heard the distinctive sound of heels against asphalt.

"Sorry we're closed for the night," she half-yelled, making sure to be heard over the sound of the shutter rolling down over the windows. 

"Actually," the sound of Brianna's voice made her stop in her tracks and turn around. Sure enough, her little blonde was in front of her - wearing a Needles Ink. t-shirt and a hooded leather jacket that definitely belonged to Aquaria. "I was kind of more interested in the piece of art in front of me?"

"Bri..." she wrapped the blonde up her arms, hugging her tighter than before, breathing in the familiar scent of sea salt and lavender. "Wait, I'm so confused, I thought you were pissed at me? I would be I mea-" her rambling was cut short by a fierce kiss. "So you're not mad?"

"How can I be mad when I love you so fucking much?"

"You love me?! Wait, you're not just saying that cause I said it right?"

"Oh my god, I'm in love with an idiot."

"Hey, I'm not an idiot!"

"Yeah, you are, but you're my idiot and I love you."

"I love you too, Bri." They shared another short kiss as the rain got heavier. "Now, let's go home."

 

Aquaria climbed onto her bike with Brianna dutifully climbing on behind her, wrapping her arms around the black-haired girl's slim waist. The rumble of the bike was soothing to Brianna as they drove through the streets. Just as Aquaria dismounted her bike and pulled a laughing Brianna into her arms to "carry her over the threshold", Bri felt her phone vibrate against her ribs in her jacket pocket, no longer masked by the vibrations of the bike. Pulling the device out as Aquaria set her down on her feet on the small balcony and wrapping her tattooed arms around Brianna's waist, tears welled up in her eyes. The screen read: "Virginia Mason Hospital (6)". 

 

A sense of knowing washed over Brianna and the lump grew in her throat as the tears threatened to spill over but as her body began to tremble, she found herself pulled tighter into the loving embrace of her girlfriend and she thought maybe it wasn't too late for her to take a chance on love. 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please let me know in the comments or at alonee-notlonelyy on Tumblr.com! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!


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